It’s over! What’s next?

Midnight magic has flown past, and many eager fans will already have finished J.K. Rowling’s seventh.

Across the internet, reporters, parents and bloggers muse over whether or not the boy wizard will have a lasting effect on today’s young readers. In the end, the Boston Globe and the New York Times are skeptical about how effective the books have been.

Others, like the Guardian, the Vancouver Sun and Publishers Weekly are speculating about what will replace Potter.

For all of those newly-minted fantasy fans, might we suggest The Bonemender? To be followed, of course, by the next two books in the series. And then there’s Nightwalker, the first book of The Warlocks of Talverdin.

And for those who’d like something a little bit closer to home than Harry, the Orca Currents and Soundings are ready to step up to the plate!

New for readers (and everyone else)!

It’s time to get interactive. The new Orca Readers section has activities, fun facts, useful resources, reader reviews and a discussion forum. Get involved in the books, get in touch with other readers and most of all, have fun!

Everyone is invited to Discuss Orca on the new forum. See you there!

PS: Have you ever met Malone? Make sure you take a look at her page in the Readers section! She has a lot to say…

CCBC Chooses

The Canadian Children’s Book Centre’s Our Choice selections include 41 Orca titles this year. Six of those are starred, which means they’re exceptional!

These are the chosen ones:

Quid Pro Quo in the Garden State

Quid Pro Quo has been nominated for the New Jersey Library Association’s 2008 Garden State Teen Book Awards. New Jersey students vote to determine the winners, who will be announced in February 2008.

Quid Pro Quo has also been nominated for the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Alan Poe award and was selected for the New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age list.

Not your average legal thriller, Quid Pro Quo is about a thirteen-year-old whose legal knowledge comes in handy when his mother is kidnapped.

Life After Potter

With the fifth Harry Potter movie coming out tomorrow, and the seventh and final novel appearing ten days later, everyone is talking about the boy wizard. The Globe was kind enough to draw up a list of books to fill the holes left in bookshelves everywhere once Harry retires.

And they must be onto something, since the list includes our very own The Bonemender, by Holly Bennett. Of course, after that, you’d want to move on to its sequels, The Bonemender’s Oath and The Bonemender’s Choice.

Why not comment and tell us what else you’ll be reading post-Potter?